经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第3章9

The little old figure moved closer towards them. He peered through the dim light. He thrust out a bony finger at his great grandson.
“Ah,” he snapped. “Zaphod Beeblebrox. The last of our great line. Zaphod Beeblebrox the Nothingth.”
“The First.”
“The Nothingth,” spat the figure. Zaphod hated his voice. It always seemed to him to screech like fingernails across the blackboard of what he liked to think of as his soul.
He shifted awkwardly in his seat.
“Er, yeah,” he muttered, “Er, look, I’m really sorry about the flowers, I meant to send them along, but you know, the shop was fresh out of wreaths and…”
“You forget!” snapped Zaphod Beeblebrox the Fourth.
“Well…”
“Too busy. Never think of other people. The living are all the same.”
“Two minutes, Zaphod,” whispered Ford in an awed whisper.
Zaphod fidgeted nervously.
“Yeah, but I did mean to send them,” he said. “And I’ll write to my great grandmother as well, just as soon as we get out of this…”
“Your great grandmother,” mused the gaunt little figure to himself.
“Yeah,” said Zaphod, “Er, how is she? Tell you what, I’ll go and see her. But first we’ve just got to…”
“Your late great grandmother and I are very well,” rasped Zaphod Beeblebrox the Fourth.
“Ah. Oh.”

这个瘦小的老人朝他们靠近了一些。昏暗的灯光下，他凝视着他们，最后伸出一根瘦骨嶙峋的手指戳了戳他的曾孙。
“哦，”他猛地说，“赞福德·毕博布鲁克斯，我们这个伟大族系的最后一个人。赞福德·毕博布鲁克斯零世。”
“是一世。”
“零世，”老人争辩道。赞福德并不喜欢他的声音。对赞福德来说，这声音总是像指甲划过黑板一样，尖锐刺耳，在他的灵魂深处刺响。
他笨拙地从座位上站起身来。
“嗯，是啊，”他喃喃地说，“嗯，您瞧，关于花的事，我真的很抱歉。我本来确实是想在您墓前献花来着，可您知道，商店里的花圈刚好卖完了……”
“根本就是你忘记了！”赞福德·毕博布鲁克斯四世断然说道。
“可……”
“太忙了。从来想不起别人。活着的人都这样。”
“两分钟，赞福德。”福特充满敬畏地耳语道。
赞福德紧张得坐立不安。
“可是，可是我真的打算献花来着。”他说，“还打算给我的曾祖母写信，只要我们一逃脱这……”
“你的曾祖母。”这个憔悴的老人自言自语道。
“是啊，”赞福德说，“嗯，她还好吗？您瞧，我会去看望她的。可我们首先得……”
“你‘已故’的曾祖母和我都挺好的。”赞福德·毕博布鲁克斯四世刺耳地说。
“噢。哦。”